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Immunity, Infection and Evolution

Professor Keith Matthews awarded Sanofi Pasteur mid career award

CIIE Director, Professor Keith Matthews has been awarded a €75,000 prize recognising his research into the parasite that causes sleeping sickness.

The prize is one of four given annually by French company Sanofi and the Institut Pasteur, which recognise major contributions in the service of health. His award is given in the mid-career category.

Professor Matthews is among four scentists who have been awarded this year, the other being: Doctor Marco Vignuzzi - laureate in the Junior category (Viral Populations and Pathogenesis Research Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, and CNRS researcher), awarded for his works on viral mutations presenting a short-term epidemic potential, Doctor Mohamed-Ali Hakimi - laureate in the Junior category (Host-Pathogen Interactions & Immunity to Infections, Institut Albert Bonniot, Université Grenoble Alpes, France, Inserm - CNRS), awarded for his researches on the functioning of the parasite Toxoplama gondii responsible for toxoplasmosis and Professor Emil Unanue - laureate in the Senior category (Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, USA), for his work on the recognition of proteins by the immune system, paving the way to the research of therapies against autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid polyarthritis.

Created in 2012, the Sanofi – Institut Pasteur Awards are the result of a historical collaboration between two partners, Sanofi and the Institut Pasteur, to encourage and support scientific excellence and innovation in the service of global health. They are the first international scientific prizes to honour researchers, recognised both by an international academic research center and a leader in the pharmaceutical industry.

The laureates received their Awards at the ceremony on November 4th at the Institut Pasteur (Paris) in the presence of Christian Bréchot, President of the Institut Pasteur, and Olivier Brandicourt, Chief Executive Officer, Sanofi, and the jury members.